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Not really doing any of these things because the gas prices increased--have been doing this stuff for years.

Wax my own body parts, nails, pedi's

Sign up for Earth Fare's deals. They have freebies a LOT -I get an email for stuff every week. I think it is free Eggs this week but they have even done whole chickens and kids eat free certain days.

We rarely go out to dinner without a coupon and I will try to share a meal with at least 1 kid.

We use a Shell Mastercard and get % back on our gas purchases. So 5% off the gas price when it goes up this high adds up quickly.

Bed Bath and Beyond coupons for my Keurig coffee k cups
World Market offers a lot of coupons for $10 off 30 etc...

We use the Entertainment book.

I buy almost all of my kid's bday party gifts with the 40% off coupons for AC Moore. Some weeks they are 50%. I print them off the computer and if I need more than 1 item I get the hubby to purchase the 2nd item with another coupon. Michael's has them too.

We get movies from the Library or Red Box if we don't want to wait. We use our Science Center membership when we travel to get free entry into other museums and use it as an easy way to entertain the children at home when we need to get out of the house/bad weather.

We pay for everything except for Gas and places that won't accept American Express with our Hilton American Express card--bills etc...so our points add up quickly. I have at least 5 days-1 wk+ FREE hotel nights each year for a vacation.

I called up XM and told them I would cancel my subscription and they lowered my yearly rate drastically.

Shopping the sales really well by joining all the facebook pages of their businesses. They advertise it right there all in one place. Haven't done it yet but there is something called deal diva that posts all the deals in your area.

I get emails from living social for groupon coupons. (took 5 kids to ray's splash planet for $15 on one)

I have really made an effort to cook more and do my shopping list based on a menu planned for at least 2 weeks. That way you have everything you need for it rather than oh I have everything but that one thing....let's eat out instead. And I mean everything to spices, condiments etc.

Shop at Trader Joes/WalMart/Target instead of Harris Teeter. Wally and Tarshay are cheaper overall but TJ's has good deals.

I agree with the general idea but you can save bundles at Harris Teeter when considering they double coupons up to 99 cents and then use that with BOGO sales. Also, make sure to sign up for eVic. Last week I snagged 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes (Kellogg's not generic) for $5. I don't think you're going to find this yummy breakfast treat at Walmart for $1.25 per box which was my net cost. If I would have been keeping better track of coupons I'm sure I could have gone cheaper than that.

Another score last week was two boxes of Crunchy Nut cereal by one get one free. I had a .70 cent coupon which doubled to $1.40. Cost of both boxes was $4 minus $1.40.

This week 10 tins of good tuna at $1 each, Pepsi 12 packs and other items are buy 2 get three free.

There are food items at Walmart that are always cheaper than regular prices but you rarely see sales on produce and honestly I don't like buying fresh stuff there. I see too many examples of people picking up an item and randomly dropping it off somewhere else in the store when they change their mind. If an item needs the fridge I don't like the idea of it living in exile on some random isle before it finds its way back to its home instead of being thrown away.

HT also recently changed their BOGO policy. If something is buy one get one it rings up at half price. When couponing you can use this to your advantage if the coupon only requires you to buy one.

For example the coupon I used for the Crunchy Nut cereal was .70 off for one versus $1.00 for two. The 70 cent coupon is better because it doubles. And Kellogg's is trying so hard to push this cereal there's a $1 coupon on the side of all boxes that goes for something like a year.

HT also has occasional super double coupons that double up to $1.98 and triple coupons too. It doesn't take much to score big if you just pick up the Sunday paper. Or go 7 days a week and you can pay for the cost of a full subscription.

Finally, eVic has electronic coupons that can be used with a regular coupon on the same item. There's a Lucky Charms coupon for $1 in a recent paper and a .55 one you can add to your account online.

Fruit Newtons are BOGO this week which WalMart has had a hard time even keeping the regular version in stock (28216).

Target often has $10 gift card offers for transferred prescriptions which is another reason to get the Sunday paper.

There's no reason to pay full price at HT. You can save a bundle, beat WalMart on many items that never or rarely go on sale and probably shop in a cleaner my respected store (meaning not that they are kept dirty but that the shoppers at my WalMart seem to be disrespectful at least some of them when it comes to treating fresh food).

Dropped Netflix and get DVDs from the library. (Also get books there too, if you don't already). Read the magazines I like there too.

This is smart if you are a regular patron. For me, I have a meter in my car that tracks the cost in dollars that any trip costs me. Just to get out of my neighborhood it's about 60 cents. To get to the library and back would be more than $2.

Unfortunately my library isn't close to anything else I patron and isn't on the way back or to anything else for me.

I've got equipment to let me stream Netfllix online and that's $8 per month. $2 more per month gets you one DVD out at a time which usually comes the next day since they have distribution center in Greensboro.

Anyway, if it works for you then great but I wanted to post this for other folks as a way to save money especially if they are considering cutting a movie package from pay TV.

This also touches on how important it is to combine trips to keep costs down.

When we want to eat dinner out as a family of 5, I go get to go orders at lunch time and we have them for dinner when everyone gets home. Lunch specials are MUCH cheaper...plus no drinks or tip! Of course it would be best just to not eat out, but we are not there yet!

Also, putting the kids on the bus more and fewer rides to school. Get up kids...its the recession!

Stopped competitive sports for this spring...too much gas, travel, etc. Inexpensive rec. sports and golf at the public course with dad has proved just as fun, if not more so.

Non kid/family cutbacks?
Work from home, if possible
Work at the local library even better (saves your electricity at home!)
Forget new summer clothes
Going away? Leave the dog with a friend and pay their teen 1/2 of what you would a vet
Shop at Aldi
Join the Y and ditch expensive health clubs or personal trainers
On Demand Movies (thus, no late fees at the library...which we end up getting!)
Use the library to check out books rather than buying new ones

All of the above we are doing...except that we've always had the Y and not an expensive health club!

This is smart if you are a regular patron. For me, I have a meter in my car that tracks the cost in dollars that any trip costs me. Just to get out of my neighborhood it's about 60 cents. To get to the library and back would be more than $2.

Curious as to where you got the meter from.

I use netflix signed up for it when I cancelled the cable/dish back in May last year.

The biggest reason I got it at first was for monitoring real time MPG in a vehicle that doesn't even have a tach. It does tach too in real time by plugging in to the OBC.

It's great for seeing how driving habits can affect mileage and pit routes against each other to see which one is most effective.

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